Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

the NYT, concerning John Paul II that deserves some elaboration.

When I was reading the book Saved by my enemy I was struck by a particular story. The young lady couldn’t get over the idea that George Bush wasn’t jailing or executing people for disagreeing with him. Since all she knew was how “the rules” worked in Iraq the concept that they worked differently just didn’t register to her.

In one sense that was a huge disadvantage for John Paul II. He had lived through communism and the police state, he knew their tactic and their methods it was his reality for him for decades.

One of the normal tactics of Communism was to spread rumors and calumny of people they wanted to destroy. It was a very common tactic and helped justify not only state actions but was useful in discrediting those who opposed them.

Unfortunately when the scandals broke and were promoted by those who were never friendly to the church I strongly suspect John Paul thought he recognized a tactic that he had seen countless times before.

This was played on by those who wanted to keep things quiet, those afraid of scandal or with something to hide. I believe they used John Paul’s own familiarity with one evil to to deceive him about another.

Fortunately others (such as the then Cardinal Ratzinger) thought otherwise and acted.